Twilight Sparkle Lost Her Marble

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m so sorry about what happened tonight at the Gala. I promise it won’t happen again. Next time I’m not up to whatever you need me to do for whatever reason, I’ll keep you informed about it and we can prioritize together. That’s one of the lessons I learned today about friendship: always talk to your friends about their expectations.

“The bulk of what I learned today isn’t really a friendship problem, but friendship is an answer to it. Sometimes, you can’t solve your problems, and you can’t run away from them. Sometimes, they’re just there, and you have to wait for them to pass. When that happens… you have to let go of it, and dwell on them as little as possible. Which is easier said than done. That’s where friends come in.

“When friends can’t solve your problems, they can distract you from them, or at least feel better about being stuck with them. When you go to friends for help and they can’t fix things, it’s important not to give up on them and let them try to help, even if you know it won’t solve the root problem. It’s amazing what they can do, and what you can learn from the-

“Twilight?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“That is not what I meant by an oral report.”

Author's Notes

On Horse Reproduction and the Title of this Story

The inspiration from this story came from something I read about horse reproduction while researching some ideas for a potentially using Cadence foaling as a plot point in a Roleplaying is Magic campaign. While I was reading about horse estrus and how it normally works, I discovered two key pieces of information that turned into the inspiration for this story. One was the tenderness and pain of estrus, not unlike PMS, and the other was a form of birth control and estrus suppression commonly used in horses. Basically, horses get glass marble IUDs (intrauterine devices). Their body thinks that little glass ball is an embryo and chills out for a while. Then it passes and has to be reinserted, and apparently sometimes they don't pass in a predictable way.

Now, if Twilight Sparkle thought friends were a waste of time, can you imagine how she thought about colts?

I tried to the best of my ability to keep my portrayal of her in line with everything I've read about horses in heat. Not wanting to be alone, reacting to just about any stallion but being able to kind of pick and choose, the symptoms dropping off suddenly... Most of what's gong on here is close to my research. Where it varies from typical horse symptoms, it probably matches up very nicely with human PMS symptoms... specifically my own. Sorry.

If you have an experience with horses that differs that you think I should know about, let me know! I might be able to make a minor edit, or a bonus chapter. I'd definitely be curious. I've never actually owned a horse before, only ridden them with someone else doing all the steering. Think fairground pony carousel.

Gratitudes and Grammar

First off, I'd like to thank the sweet gentlecolts of Reddit's Clop chat, #rclop on FreeNode, for their assistance, especially mathrick, who offered to proofread the story for me. Due to real life getting in the way and a published real author offering to look it over for me, I never did get to take him up on that, but I still appreciate it.

I'd also like to thank everyone in the FIMfic chat for their help. You guys made me feel so much better about this whole thing!

So... I said a real published author did my editing. My BBBFF from another mother, took time off from editing his magazine to look my story over and help me find some grammar and usage mistakes. He was also there for me when real life was getting in the way of getting anyone else (like maybe someone who wouldn't embarass me by reading something so sexual) reading the piece. And the whole ending with fluttershy's tits? His idea. I love ya, bro, and thanks for accepting your frustrated little sister as she is!

Speaking of grammar and usage, if you find anything that you don't think is there for artistic reasons, feel free to let me know and I'll look for it. Embarrassing, given my real-life profession, but we all make mistakes.

Imagery

I'm not too impressed with the imagery I have for this here story. Any suggestions for better artwork I could ask someone if I could use?